George Raft

[Western Guy]

No, Mack never married, though back in the 30s he frequently dated Lucille Ball, who was Virginia Pine's best friend at the time so the four of them were often seen together.

Always thought it kind of sad and interesting (and I've discussed this with Mack Gray's nephew) that when George's career was really declining in the 50s (when Lucy was at her peak), Lucy never offered George a guest shot on her TV program (and she did that whole Ricardos Go To Hollywood series where Bill Holden, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Cornel Wilde, among others played themselves). Even more puzzling, why did George never play a part on Desilu's "The Untouchables"? George was very kind and generous to Lucy when she was just starting out in the business.

George Raft (or a character closely based on him) was featured in the films BROADWAY, THE GEORGE RAFT STORY, MAE WEST (TV film), BUGSY and THE COTTON CLUB.

[CineMaven]

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[charliechaplinfan]

Thank you Theresa, that's one to look forward to, it has a distinctive precode look about it and it has Boris Karloff in it too.

I don't have a great knowledge of I Love Lucy, the ones I have seen are a couple with the celebrities, John Wayne being one, I think I've seen the Richard Widmark one, I'd love to see the Bill Holden one and my favourite was the Charles Boyer episode. George would have been great in that format, I don't know the Untouchables but I'm presuming Elliot Ness and gangsters, who better to employ? Some people don't like to be reminded of where they came from. Others like Bogart appreciate a helping hand so much they name a child after someone who has stuck their neck out for them. it's our loss that he wasn't in these series.

They were two men about town then, neither having a married relationship or having children. Sounds like quite a successful formula.

[JackFavell]

I can't imagine Lucy leaving George out on purpose. She constantly brought people who worked with her in the early days over for her show, though Buster Keaton was reserved for a later special. She always seemed willing to help out actors who were down on their luck. Boyer's and Holden's are my favorites of the Lucy in Hollywood shows, though John Wayne and George Reeves come close. She had Allen Jenkins on many times and Bea Benederet, as well as Elizabeth Patterson and Charles Lane. And don't forget Eve Arden in that Bill Holden show.

[CineMaven]

AHHhhh that Bill Holden episode just killed me. Staring at Lucy eating her spaghetti...cutting spaghetti with manicure scissors... Lucy's fake nose...catching on fire...dunking in coffee. OMG! The funniest thing I think I ever did see was Ricky pretending the apartment was on fire, and poor Lucy in leg casts up to her hips trying to get out of her bedroom; tossing the henna rinse. Tying bedsheets around her waist to lower herself out of the window...but forgetting to tie the other end to the bed.

Alison...get thee to "I LOVE LUCY." Little kids in the center of the Sahara know Lucy.

[Western Guy]

I agree, Wendy, I don't think Lucy would have deliberately snubbed George. Still kinda sad since George was venturing quite a bit into television during the 50s when Lucy really had reached her peak.

Was considering later ironies considering George's later career. How he was such a big star at Paramount and Warners yet by the early 60s was performing cameos at both studios (OCEAN'S ELEVEN - Warners), (THE PATSY and THE LADIES MAN - Paramount . . . and courtesy of Jerry Lewis).

Of course even more ironic were his two final films: SEXTETTE (George of course had recommended Mae West her first film role; now, in her last movie, she gives George a part - albeit another cameo). And THE MAN WITH BOGART'S FACE speaks for itself. Both films reflect on George's former stardom and a career high and career low.

One nice thing: Michelle Phillips told me that even though George worked just the one day on TMWBG, he was looked upon with awe by the crew and cast members.

Not a bad way to go out.

[JackFavell]

Not at all. Wasn't Jack La Rue also in that one? I may be wrong, but I thought she gave him a role as well. I'd rather go out like George than like Jack.

[Western Guy]

No Wendy, Jack's swan song was ROBIN & THE 7 HOODS - and he actually had a somewhat larger role than George in FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG. Yet it would have been appropriate for Jack, too, to have appeared in SEXTETTE, given his own professional and personal relationship with Mae West.

[JackFavell]

I must have gotten the movies confused. I did know about his relationship with West, and I could have sworn he was offered a role in that film. I had read that poor Jack spent all his movie money early on and then was reliant on the kindness of strangers so to speak, picking up bit parts here and there trying to support himself.

[Western Guy]

Well, Jack wasn't quite that destitute, Wendy. He was, like George, somewhat careless with his money - and since he made far less than Raft, that wasn't a good thing. He also had several marriages; he was oft-times too generous accepting tabs from customers at his restaurant (many well-known and well-paid celebs) who ended up stiffing him. Basically Jack took any part that came along to keep afloat, which is why he would go from the lead in NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH to a part with not a word of dialogue in MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE. His career peaked with THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE then it really took a bizarre seesaw ride - unfortunately, mostly downs. But when I met him in the late 70s he was living quite comfortably in a security apartment with his sister. And, as with Raft, he didn't seem to have any regrets.

Larry Tierney was actually far more destitute than Jack when his career fizzled in the 50s. According to Margia Dean he was constantly borrowing money from brother Scott and even stood outside restaurants waiting for food handouts.

[JackFavell]

That's nice to know about Jack being comfortable later in life. I always felt bad for him.

Lawrence Tierney seems like the kind of guy who kind of put himself where he was. Not that I don't feel bad for him, that kind of mental disorder is something to be pitied.

[Western Guy]

Sadly, Tierney was an alcoholic and that is what curtailed his career. Yet Margia Dean said she liked him better than brother Scott, whom she recalled as rather crude. Tierney, she said, was a gentleman. A lot of people have said that, sober, Lawrence was a very nice guy and easy to work with. Unfortunately, demon rum got the better of him, and by the time he eventually got on the wagon his unsettled personality seemed set.

[charliechaplinfan]

I really don't know Jack La Rue that well, apart from The Story of Temple Drake. Or Lawrence Tierney although I'm enjoying reading all your comments and will look out for them in future movies.

George made and spent $10 million, he must have kept a lot of people employed or in the case of friends, solvent. It sounds like Jack La Rue was a similar soft touch. I wonder what happened to all the money George gave Grayce over the years, I wonder if she squirreled it away or if she spent, spent, spent.

Did George ever have an official fan club? Did a star have any obligation to their fan club and was it studio supported and was George involved with his? The reason I ask is I've been reading about Joan Crawford and how good she was to her fans and how she was involved in her club.

[Western Guy]

Ten million is the amount George always quoted, Alison - along with the line: "Some of the loot went for dames, some for gambling; the rest I spent foolishly."

At least he had a sense of humor about it. Sad, though, that he was so careless when it came to his earnings. Fred MacMurray, who I'm sure was paid less per week than George during their Paramount days, died one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood - I think the figure quoted was around $40 million. Granted, ole Freddie was a notorious cheapskate but also a very shrewd investor. Had George followed Fred's example he could have been a tremendously wealthy man. Especially if he would have kept his point interest in The Flamingo.

Alison, don't know if Jack LaRue was a "soft touch". Nice guy - definitely. The story goes that LaRue's career never went further because of "The Story of Temple Drake" - the role that Raft turned down because he considered it "career suicide". God knows what all the fuss was about. The "infamous" scene is definitely suggested, but Paramount had produced greater "horrors" as it were: "Island of Lost Souls" (with its morbid climax) and "Murders in the Zoo" (with its horrific opening scene -- and I wonder how 30s audiences took to that poor unfortunate running straight into the camera with his lips sewn together). And here I momentarily digress: Those movies are true horror. Forget about the crap thrown on moviegoers today: the torture porn films or crap like "The Human Centipede" franchise.

Anyhoo, Jack's career never really recovered from his appearing as Trigger (re-christened from the more infamous Popeye -- and not that spinach-eatin' sailor, either). In fact, for the most part, Trigger was Jack's career plateau -- pretty much downhill from there. Could one imagine George Raft appearing briefly as the compassionate priest in "Captains Courageous" because his career suffered after "Temple Drake"? So, perhaps, Raft was correct in his stance of turning down the role. Yet again I say: What was all the fuss about?

Good question, Alison. No idea whether Raft ever had a fan club. As for Joan Crawford . . . well, she owned the apartment building where George briefly lived during the late 50s . . . though he claimed he never met her.

[charliechaplinfan]

Temple Drake was talked about for so long and when it was on youtube I expected to be more shocked. True Trigger is an awful man but I still think there's a shading of kindness there. God only knows what his back story was. I'm not sure one film can spell the end of career, it must be a conbination of things, perhaps the market was flooded with those types when Jack was trying to make it. We had George Raft, Ricardo Cortez and others. One never knows.

I wonder about the money though, I can understand money invested or squirreled away for our children but if you have no children or close family to pass your money on to why save it? Sure put enough by to see you through old age but why let the tax man get it. So in that way I understand a person who spends what they have. They kept someone in work, they lend to others who have none and in George's case don't always recoup their money.